Product Information

INTRODUCTION

Accidents Will Happen!

With school pupils these can occur at school, or while travelling to or from school or whilst engaged in school related activities, resulting in claims being made against School Authorities, usually for medical/dental fees.

The School will have Public Liability Insurance or in the case of Community and Comprehensive Schools a State Indemnity, which covers its legal liability for bodily injury to third parties, including pupils.

Their policy will, therefore, only deal with claims where it can be shown that there was negligence on the part of the school authorities. This is not to say that the Policy is defective. It is only intended to cover the School Authorities legal liability.

Difficulties can then arise when a parent is told, either by School Authorities or by Insurers, that their claim will not be met.

To try to avoid this, so far as possible, Personal Accident Insurance on the pupils, can be taken out. A Personal Accident policy provides cover for death, loss of limbs or eyes, total disablement and medical expenses following accidental bodily injury during the insured activities.

The Brennan Insurances Personal Accident Scheme

We have established a scheme which overcomes the usual problems associated with such schemes and offers cover to parents at a very competitive premium. It is underwritten by Allianz plc and we have a binding authority.

Eligible Schools

The scheme is available to first and second level schools and colleges.

Unfortunately the scheme does not include Special schools. We can, however, make arrangements to provide cover for such schools if required but further information will be required and special terms may be imposed.

OPTIONAL OR COMPULSORY

“Optional” means that parents are invited to decide whether they want their child included in the scheme or not. This means writing to all the parents in the school and collecting individual premiums from them.

Where the scheme is being offered on an optional basis, it must be offered to the parents of all the pupils attending the school.

“Compulsory” means the school insures all of the pupils in the school. This has the advantage of cutting out most of the administration for the organisers of the scheme (no letters to parents; no collecting individual premiums; no stragglers). It is also cheaper as a discount applies where all the pupils are being included.

Essentially, there are four ways the scheme can operate.

Option 1

24 Hour Cover (optional)

This means students are covered 24 hours a day, not just while at school, during social, domestic and leisure, as well as school activities (It should be noted the scheme does not cover bodily injury resulting from employment other than authorised school work experience programmes).

Option 2

24 Hour Cover (Compulsory)

Under this option, all students of the school are covered 24 hours a day, including social, domestic and leisure, as well as school activities.

Option 3

Cover for School Activities only (Optional)

This option covers your students while at school and while participating in any school activity taking place with the full knowledge and authority of the school, including direct travel to and from such activities.

Option 4

Cover for School Activities Only (Compulsory)

This option is designed to cover all students of the school for school activities only.

NOTE
Where a school decides to run an optional scheme in the school (where the parents are invited to include their child or not), Options 1 and 3 can be offered to parents in the school leaving each free to chose either the 24 hour cover or the School Activities Only cover.

ADVANTAGES OF COMPULSORY OPTION

Cover can be provided on a “compulsory” basis whereby ALL students in the school are insured.

Cost

The cost per pupil is € 7.40 per year for 24 Hour cover or € 4.40 where cover is limited to School Related Activities only.

Advantages

The main advantages to running a compulsory scheme are:-

Premium is Lower.

There is no need to supply a list of the names of the students to be insured.

There is no need to issue separate forms to parents for completion.

Any new students who joins the school during the year is automatically covered under the scheme at no extra charge for whichever cover option the school chose at renewal.

How the Compulsory Scheme operates

All we need from the organisers of a “compulsory” scheme is a completed renewal/application form stating the total number of students attending the school at inception and a cheque for the total premium. A Certificate is then issued covering all students of the school.

School Prospectus

Where required we can supply a draft summary of the scheme for inclusion in the school prospectus.

Staff Scheme

Cover for school staff can be included for the same benefits as the students. It is optional whether schools wish to avail of this scheme but where they do, ALL staff must be included. The school personal accident scheme is only offered to staff members for school related activities including direct travel to and from such activities.

RENEWAL AND FIRST TIME APPLICATIONS

Our objective is to process all applications effectively. This means correctly and speedily. Our ability to do this is dependent on receiving application in the proper format.

1. Completed Application Forms

a) New School Application

If your school has not previously had School Personal Accident Insurance the school must complete

1. New School Application Form

2. Terms of business form

b) Renewal Application

If your school is already participating in the scheme you will receive a renewal application form.

Your renewal application has a number on it (bottom left hand corner). This is to ensure that renewal applications are processed correctly. To minimise the risk of an administrative error, we would ask you not to alter the form at all. If the school address is incorrectly stated on the form, we would ask you to include a separate note confirming the correct address (we must correspond c/o the school. We cannot issue renewal documentation to an individual’s home)

Renewal forms are issued in or about July. If a school mislays their renewal form or needs another form a duplicate form can be issued on request. All such requests must quote their previous year’s certificate number.

2. List Of Pupils (Optional Scheme Only)

Where an Optional scheme is been run a printed list of pupils is required.

We recommend the use of a personal computer for compiling the list of pupils to be insured.

Microsoft Excel is particularly suitable as it allows names to be sorted a) Alphabetically b) Where applicable, according to the premium paid /category of cover chosen.

A list of pupils is not required where the scheme is been run on a compulsory basis.

3. Premium Payment

Completed applications must be accompanied by a Single Remittance in respect of the appropriate premium payable.

Under the Central Bank of Ireland regulations each cheque we receive must be processed individually. This means we can no longer accept school personal accident applications with multiple cheques payable to Brennan Insurances.

Remittances must be in the form of a cheque or similar, we are not in a position to accept cash

4. Returned Application

To assist us in running the scheme as smoothly as possible we would ask schools to make sure that applications to participate in our scheme meet the criteria set out above.

We regret that applications which do not meet this criteria will be returned.

5. Covering Letters

We would ask schools wherever possible not to include a covering letter with their application.

Main Exclusions

The following information is a summary only and intended as a guide to policy cover and exclusions. These exclusions also appear on the Scheme Forms 1, 2 and 3, which we issue to schools and in turn the school issue to parents who wish to participate in the scheme.

1) Intentional self-injury, suicide or attempted suicide, provoked assault or fighting (except in bona fide self defence), exposure to needless peril (except in an attempt to save human life), or from any involvement in a criminal act.

2) When under the influence of intoxicants or drugs (other than prescribed) or suffering from insanity temporary or otherwise.

3) While engaged in aeronautics and/or aviation, other than as a fare paying passenger.

4) Arising from the use of power woodworking machinery unless in connection with School Activities.

5) Horse or pony racing or jumping unless in connection with School Activities.

HEALTH CONDITION

PERIOD OF INSURANCE & HOW SCHEME OPERATES

Period of Insurance

The scheme operates for 12 months from September 1st each year.
Please note that closing date is the 10th of November each year or preceding Friday where falls at a weekend)
Any applications received after this date will be returned.
How the 24 Hour and School Activities Scheme Operate

We operate the Scheme through the school Principal or the Parents Association as this offers the most effective means of distribution of documentation and collection of premium enabling us to keep the premium down to the level of € 7.40 for 24 hour cover and € 5.40 for School Activities only per pupil per annum.

Circular to Parents

We provide a master copy of the summary sheet where requested a draft letter to parents which sets out the reasons for effecting such cover and draws their attention to the Health Condition on the Policy (see Page 10). Copies of these are sent by the Principal/Parents Association to all parents via the pupils.

A cut off date is incorporated in the letter to parents to avoid late entrants and the difficulties these can cause. We strongly recommend schools not to allow late entrants to their scheme. You should pick a closing date and stick to it.

On the bottom of all scheme forms is a section which should be completed, if possible, by ALL parents, indicating whether or not they wish to include their children under the Scheme and returned to the organisers, with the money where appropriate.

24 Hour Cover

A 24 hour option is available whereby the cover is not limited to school related activities only but covers the insured students 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The premium for this 24 hour cover is € 7.40 per student per year.

Cover/Payment

Once we are advised that it has been decided to establish the scheme in the school cover attaches automatically from that date for those whose premium has been paid to the organisers.

A cheque is then sent to us for the total amount payable as soon as possible after that date, together with the list of those included.

Insurance Certificate

A Certificate of Insurance is issued and sent to the organisers and is usually made available, if required for inspection by the parents.

CLAIMS PROCEDURE

A supply of Claim Forms will be sent to the school along with the Certificate of Insurance. These can be given to any parent wishing to make a claim. The claim form should be completed and returned to Brennan Insurances. A claim form is also available online here in our claim forms section.

Notification Condition

Notice must be sent to the Company via Brennan Insurance as soon as practicable of any Accident to an Insured Person, and the Insured Person must as soon as possible place himself or herself under the care of a duly qualified medical practitioner. Notice must be sent to the Company via Brennan Insurances as soon as practicable in the event of the death of the Insured Person, resulting or alleged to result from an Accident. In no case will the Company be liable to pay compensation to the Insured Person, Parent or to their representatives unless the medical advisor or advisors appointed by the Company for this purpose shall be allowed so often as may be deemed necessary to make an examination of the Insured Person.

All claims are handled through our office and usually are dealt with directly with the parents/guardians and this requires little or no involvement from the school. The claim cheque can be made payable to the parents/guardians or the school authorities normally who ever signs the discharge form.

We have a claims settlement authority from underwriters, ensuring swift settlement of straightforward claims.